Iphigenia, 1805
Type: 5th rate ; Armament 36 (26 x long 18- pounders on the main deck: 12 x 32 pounder carronades: 4 x long nines)
Launched : 26 Apr 1805 ; Disposal date or year : 1851
BM: 870 tons
Complement: 264
Notes:

1805 Building

6 Feb 1810 It is reported in London that the Iphigenia had arrived at the Cape of Good Hope with the French Frigate La Nymphe.

latter end of March or beginning of April 1810 the naval force arrived off the Isle of France, consisting of the Iphigenia, Leopard and Magicienne, was joined on the 24th by the N�r�ide, from the Cape.

May 1810 off Port-Louis.

7-8 Jul 1810 operation to take the Isle of France. 21 Aug 1834 second and final payment of prize money for the Isle of Bourbon due to be paid.

10-13 Aug 1810 expeditions to capture of the Isle de la Passe.

23 Aug 1810 action with a French Squadron in the harbour of Grand-Port, during which the frigate N�r�ide was captured and the Magicienne and Sirius went aground and were burnt.

27-28 Aug 1810 Captured by a French squadron at Isle-de-la-Passe, off Grand-Port.

3 Dec 1810 capture of the Isle of France. In Port-Louis were the French frigates Bellone, under the name of Junon, and the Astr�e, under that of Pomone, which were purchased for the use of the British navy. The Iphigenia was restored to her rank among the 18-pounder 36s ; but the battered N�r�ide was in too bad a state and was sold to be broken up.

13 May 1811 arrived Plymouth from Portsmouth.

19 Mar 1812 departed Portsmouth with the Mediterranean convoy.

22 Mar 1812 arrived Torbay last night with a convoy for Lisbon &c.

23 Mar 1812 departed Torbay with the Malta convoy, a part of the convoy putting back with the Serapis due to contrary winds, and subsequently departed on 25 Mar.

10 Sep 1812 departed Falmouth with her convoy for the Downs.

17 Sep 1812 arrived Portsmouth from the Downs.

22 Sep 1812 It is reported that the Iphigenia has received �100,000 on board in gold bars for the payment of the Army in Spain.

22 Sep 1812 departed Portsmouth for Lisbon.

22 Nov 1812 Portsmouth, is appointed convoy for Cadiz, Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean.

6 Dec 1812 departed Portsmouth with a convoy for Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean.

19 Jun 1814 arrived Santa Cruz from Gibraltar with a convoy of transports with the 21st, 29th, and 62d regiments, and a company of artillery and departed on the 22 Jun for Bermuda.

Aug 1814 a portion of the prize money resulting from the various actions in the Chesapeake became due for payment on 1 May 1835 : namely a dividend from the estate of the bankrupt agent Henry Abbott : no doubt one of the many fraudsters who ripped off matelots in those days : both officers and ratings being fair game.

16 Oct 1814 Portsmouth.

19 Oct 1814 Portsmouth, appointed convoy to Bermuda.

19 Oct 1814 Portsmouth, accompanies the convoy for North America, at present wind-bound.

25 Oct 1814 Portsmouth, appointed convoy to Halifax.

27 Oct 1814 Dropped down to St. Helen's, bound to America.

30 Oct 1814 departed with a convoy of transports for North America.

31 Oct 1814 passed by Plymouth with a convoy from Portsmouth, and the trade for Bermuda joined from this port.

1 Nov 1814 anchored last night in Plymouth Sound, and departed this morning with the Bermuda fleet for Cork.

6 Nov 1814 arrived Cork with a convoy.

14 Nov 1814 departed Cork with the Bermuda convoy on the 9th inst. but have since put back.

13 Dec 1814 put back to Cove with the Bermuda convoy, due to foul winds.

17 Dec 1814 has put back with her convoy for a fifth time.

20 Mar 1815, reported to be at Bermuda.

16 Oct 1815 has put back to Deal.

17 Oct 1815 departed Deal for Portsmouth.

18 Oct 1815 put back to Deal.

29 Jun 1816 Remained Trincomalee.

15 Dec 1817 arrived Plymouth from Ceylon.

10 May 1818 at Portsmouth preparing for service in North America.

2 Sep 1818 arrived Portsmouth from Halifax.

2 Sep 1818 arrived Portsmouth from Quebec (20 days).

3 Oct 1818 Will depart Portsmouth for the Jamaica station about Tues next.

14 Jan 1821 went out to Spithead to prepare for service in the Mediterranean and prevailing contrary winds have prevented her from departing for Naples Bay.

12 Sep 1821 is fitting out at Plymouth for the African station.

6 Oct 1821 arrived Portsmouth from Plymouth, prior to sailing for the suppression of the slave-trade on the coast of Africa.

27 Nov 1821 is in commission and based off the Coast of Africa.

4 Jan 1822 departed Plymouth for the Coast of Africa and is stated to have been detained 45 days in the Channel due to the current gales.

21 Feb 1822, detained by the ship's boats in lat. 11� 47' N. R. Bissao, the Portuguese brigantine El Conde de Villa Flor, 9 guns, 150 tons, 45 men, with 172 slaves on board when detained, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Portuguese Court of Mixed Commission, Sierra Leone, and sentenced to be condemned on 13 Mar 1822. it was observed in the extracts from the eighteenth and nineteenth reports of the directors of the African Institution, at their AGM, held in London on 11 May, 1824, and 13 May, 1825, that it was fully proved, that the governor of Bissao was himself an interested participator in the illegal embarkation of slaves, a certain number of the slaves being his property; some of them being entered in the memoranda as shipped and received from his official residence � as if all decency was cast off from the government of the settlement. Such is the strong, but most appropriate, language of the judge of the mixed commission court : The examinations in this case develop the most complicated tissue of fraudulent expedients for defeating the ends of justice;� among them, fabricated log-books, exhibiting a voyage from the Brazils to Cabenda, by way of the Cape de Verds, when the real destination was Bissao; and schedules pointing out the bribes by which the connivance of the judge, governor, &c. was to be secured at the port of discharge in the Brazils. This vessel had already made several very successful and gainful voyages under the shelter of these ingenious expedients. The owner, in one of his letters, declared his intention of putting an end, by this voyage, to his course of slave-trading, as, "provided," he says, "that it were the pleasure of the Almighty that every thing should be placed in safety, they would have reaped a good harvest." In consequence, it may be presumed, of his capture on this occasion, which prevented his gathering the fruits he had anticipated, he appears, by the Sierra Leone Gazette, to have returned to the coast in the succeeding year, and to have successfully effected another voyage.

26 Feb 1822 when working in cooperation with the Americans was detained in lat. 7� 0' N. long. 10� 30' W., the Spanish slave vessel Joseph, which, having the slave platform laid, and water complete for the reception of slaves was sent for adjudication. She initially pretended to be a Swedish vessel, but there was sufficient evidence on board to show that she was a Spanish vessel and liable to prosecution by the British and Spanish Mixed Court of Justice, Sierra Leone and was sentenced to be condemned accordingly on 18 Jun 1822.

1 Apr 1822 the boats of Iphigenia, and Myrmidon detained in lat. 5� 16' N. long. 0� 10' 30" W., the Portuguese slave vessel Des de Fevreiro, 2 guns, 150 tons, 23 men, with 10 slaves on board when detained, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Portuguese Court of Mixed Commission, Sierra Leone, and sentenced to be condemned on 22 Jun 1822.

6 Apr 1822 the boats of Iphigenia, and Myrmidon detained in lat. 6� 17' N. long. 2� 55' E., the Portuguese slave vessel Nymfa del Mai, 3 guns, 104 tons, 24 men, with 2 slaves on board when detained, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Portuguese Court of Mixed Commission, Sierra Leone, and sentenced to be condemned on 28 Aug 1822.

7 Apr 1822 Iphigenia, with the Myrmidon in company, detained in lat. 6� 20' N. long. 4� 12' E., the Portuguese slave vessel Esperanza Felis, 4 guns, 142 tons, 24 men, with 187 slaves on board when detained, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Portuguese Court of Mixed Commission, Sierra Leone, and sentenced to be condemned on 4 Jul 1822.

15 Apr 1822 the ship's boats detained in lat. 4� 22' N. long. 7� 22' E., the Spanish slave vessel Yeanam, with 380 slaves on board when detained, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Spanish Mixed Court of Justice, Sierra Leone, and sentenced to be condemned on 25 Jun 1822. Unfortunately, on 2 Jun 1822 the prize capsized in a tornado in sight of the Myrmidon, with the loss of 2 officers, 16 men and 400 slaves, 7 of the Iphigenia's crew survived using the wreckage.

15 Apr 1822 the ship's boats detained in lat. 4� 22' N. long. 7� 22' E., the Spanish slave vessel Vecua, with 325 slaves on board when detained, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Spanish Mixed Court of Justice, Sierra Leone, and sentenced to be condemned on 25 Jun 1822.

15 Apr 1822 in the river Bonny, the boats of his Majesty's ships Iphigenia and Myrmidon, manned with about 150 seamen, and commanded by Lieut G. Wm. St. John Mildmay, experienced a most severe contest, in which two seamen were killed, and seven were wounded. The French brig, of 240 tons, the Vigilante, with six others, formed a little slave-trading squadron, which was discovered, by the boats despatched by Sir R. Mends to reconnoitre the river Bonny, moored across the stream of the river, with springs on their cables, all armed, with apparently about 400 men on board, and perfectly prepared to resist the approach of boarders. Lieut. Mildmay pushed on with his boats, and, as he got within range, opened a heavy fire of cannister grape shot, and musketry ; nothing could withstand the coolness and undaunted courage of our seamen, and all the vessels were soon in their possession : their defenders, on being boarded, either ran below, or jumped overboard. The vessels proved to be as follows:� French brig Vigilante, four guns, thirty men, 343 slaves ; French brig Petite Betsey, 148 tons, four guns, twenty five men, 218 slaves ; French brigantine L�Ursule, 100 tons, four guns, twenty-seven men, 247 slaves ; Spanish schooner Yeanam, 306 tons, ten guns, fifty-five men, 380 slaves ; Spanish schooner Vecua / Becua, 130 tons, 9 guns, forty-five men, 300 slaves; and another brig, which took part in the action, but had no cargo. The state of the slaves on board these vessels it is impossible to describe : some were linked in shackles by the leg, in pairs ; some of them were bound with cords ; and many of them had their arms so lacerated, that the flesh was completely eaten through ! In one of the captured vessels, which the traders, on the attack being made, deserted, a lighted match had been placed in the magazine, in which were several barrels of gunpowder, in the hope, no doubt, that as soon as our sailors had boarded, the vessel would blow up with them and the 300 slaves who were chained together in the hold. Providentially, one of the men discovered the match, put his hat under it, and carried it safely on deck. On the passage of the prizes from the Bonny river to Sierra Leone, the schooner Yeanam (drawing 17 feet water), with 500 slaves on board, and 23 seamen, upset in a tornado, and all in her perished, excepting eight seamen, who were picked up five days afterward by the Myrmidon, in a state of derangement, from want of food. Messrs. Batty and Doughty, midshipmen, perished in her. The number of slaves liberated by the capture of these vessels was 1,876, about 200 of whom died on the passage to Sierra Leone ; the others (excepting those lost in the schooner) were landed at that place. It is perhaps worth noting that whilst perhaps the French vessels mentioned might have been charged with piracy, there is little doubt that the French would not have prosecuted them, any more than charging them with slave trading, to which the French turned a blind eye in those days, nevertheless all 3 French vessels were sent to Cherbourg, although the Vigilante was reported to have called at Portsmouth and the Petite Betsey at Plymouth.

17 Apr 1822 off the Bonny.

27 Apr 1822 detained by the Myrmidon & and boats of the Iphigenia in lat. 4� 31' N. long. 8� 37' E., the Portuguese slave vessel Defensora, 2 guns, 35 tons, and 13 men, and 100 slaves on board when detained, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Portuguese Court of Mixed Commission, Sierra Leone and sentenced to be condemned on 4 Jul 1822.

20 Jun 1922 due to sail Sierra Leone for England shortly, via the West Indies, to refit.

27 Jul 1822 Exchanged signals with the Pyramus, off Barbadoes, on her passage to Jamaica.

31 Jul 1822 Lieut Mildmay is reported by the Flag Officer Portsmouth to have arrived at Spithead with the French slave ship Vigilante, mentioned above. P 187 FO 84-19 Foreign and Domestic various - 1822. After seeing his agent Lt M has been told to report to the Admiralty to receive their instructions....perhaps one of those days that it might have been interesting to be a fly on the wall ?

15 Aug 1822 one of the vessels captured at the River Bonny on 15 Apr 1922, the French brigantine L'Utile, also described in another source as the of a French brig, of 240 tons, the Vigilante, arrived Portsmouth in the charge of Lieut. C. Elliott, leaving Sierra Leone on the 23d June.

1830 Chatham.

25 May 1831 Ramillies, Creole, Iphigenia, Dartmouth, and Hussar, are ordered to be fitted at Chatham as temporary lazarettos, in consequence of the recent quarantine order.

26 Oct 1831 arrived Deal from Portsmouth.

10 Nov 1832 is to be prepared for loan to the Marine Society instead of the Solebay.

1833-1848 Lent to Marine Society.

River Thames, London 1 Aug 1835 the lads from the Marine Society manned the yards on the passing of the King and Queen, en route to pay a visit to Greenwich Hospital.

20 Dec 1848 Woolwich.